Elderly couple in Delhi killed by son, daughter-in-law over land dispute

The elderly couple’s refusal to sell their plot of land to fund their son’s business was the trigger for the double murder, said a senior police officer who asked not to be named.

A retired MCD employee and his wife were stabbed to death by their son and daughter-in-law at their home in outer Delhi’s Chhawla are in the early hours of Friday while their minor grandchildren slept in another room, police said.

At the time of the murder, Singh’s eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter were asleep in another room. (HT Archives. Representative image)

The elderly couple’s refusal to sell their plot of land to fund their son’s business was the trigger for the double murder, said a senior police officer who asked not to be named.

The couple, identified by the police as Satish Singh, 37, and Kavita, 35 have been arrested. Satish used to wok as a driver but is currently unemployed.

The couple lived with their children and Singh’s parents -- 61-year-old Raj Singh, 61, and Omvati, 58 -- in Chhawla’s Durga Vihar. Singh’s two sisters are married, work as teachers and live elsewhere in the same neighbourhood.

“Raj retired from a clerical job with the MCD in 2019. He purchased two plots with the money he received upon retirement. Satish and his wife were pushing him father to sell the land and give them money to start a business,” added the senior police officer.

This demand and the constant refusal of the elderly couple to sell the land often resulted in quarrels at their home, the officer said.

“One such quarrel in the early hours of Friday led to Satish and Kavita picking a knife and stabbing the elderly couple to death. They were both stabbed multiple times, particularly in the face,” said the officer.

At the time of the murder, Singh’s eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter were asleep in another room. “After killing them, the suspects locked the room from outside and stayed in the house. They were unsure about what to do next,” said the officer.

The children woke up around 10 am, but allegedly weren’t allowed to enter the room in which the bodies were kept.

Around 11 am on Friday, the Raj Singh’s younger daughter and another relative visited the house to check on the elderly couple. “They hadn’t been able to get through to anyone over phone,” said the officer.

But Singh and his wife refused to let them enter the house. “But the other relative managed to barge into the house even as a crowd gathered outside. We received a call about the double murder at 11.30 am,” said Anto Alphonse, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka).

The bodies were sent for autopsy and the couple picked up, he added

Another police officer said on condition of anonymity that the suspects initially denied being the killers and then went on to blame each other for the crime. “They finally broke down and confessed to killing the elderly couple in a fit of rage for refusing to sell the land.”